Mansfield took up the ukulele in 2007, after his cancer made it too difficult for him to play the violin.

NPR: Killian Mansfield's Optimistic Ukulele

"If somebody makes an instrument, you wouldn't say the person who made the violin is the composer of what people play on the violin, " he says.

NPR: David Byrne Plays the Building

"I was supposed to be playing Bach, and all I wanted to do was play the Mendelssohn violin concerto, " Hope says.

NPR: The Glamorous Life Of Daniel Hope

Latifah purposely over-enunciated her lines, and when a pair of rehearsal actors claimed an Oscar onstage and gave an acceptance speech, Zeta-Jones started to play them off with an imaginary violin.

NPR: Dozens Of Stars Rehearse Day Before Oscar Ceremony

But today you can play these same notes on an electric violin.

WHITEHOUSE: White House Workshop: Classical Music

Once, in middle school, he was surrounded in the cafeteria by classmates who taunted him for carrying his violin and suggested, mockingly, that he play it.

NEWYORKER: A Loaded Gun

She started playing the violin in the third grade, and Seth asked Sam and Judy if he could play, too.

NEWYORKER: A Loaded Gun

After seeing Anantawan play in a video online, the man made a crude prosthetic device out of cardboard and took up the violin.

CNN: One-handed violinist helps the disabled make music